


The Inner Life of Martin Crieff

by YellowBananaOwl



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-05-05
Packaged: 2018-01-21 03:16:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1535540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowBananaOwl/pseuds/YellowBananaOwl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of 26 vignettes (or ficlets if you want) written for the April challenge at letscreatecabinpressure.tumblr.com.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. That one person who made a difference

You know how they say that if you're told something often enough, you will start believing it? In Martin Crieff's case, that was unfortunately very true. His father and his sister never believed in Martin's ability to ever become a pilot, which they told him repeatedly, and this affected him greatly. If it hadn't been for Martin's determination to prove that he _would_ become a pilot and follow his _only_ dream in the world, he would probably have given up after the first failed CPL exam and proved his father right.

At MJN, he knew about Douglas and Carolyn's snarky personalities and tried to not let it get to him when they made fun of his piloting skills, but it did.

It seemed as if no one had high thoughts about Martin. Including himself. 

There was one person, however, who was different from everyone else. One person who constantly told Martin how brilliant he was. One person who greeted Martin with a huge smile every morning, who seemed genuinely happy to see him, who pointed out his strong sides instead of his weaknesses.

At first, Martin didn't pay too much attention to this. Arthur was like this with everybody. In Arthur's world, everyone was brilliant. Martin wasn't special. He was just one of Arthur's "brilliant" people in the world. However, after a while Martin started noticing that Arthur complimented him more than any of the others. And Arthur wouldn't lie. 

After being told something often enough, you will start believing it, so maybe Martin was a bit brilliant after all?


	2. In Which Martin Is Not So Brilliant

Martin couldn't remember quite how and why it started, but there was one thing that made him not so brilliant. 

All through his life, Martin had become so used to being teased, both by his siblings, his former schoolmates, and now also by Douglas, that when he met Arthur, it was, as a newly employed _captain_ , so easy to finally be able to throw a snide comment or two whenever Arthur did something, let's call it not-so-clever.

He guessed it was, at first, just a way of showing off. He had finally become Captain, and he felt he had something to prove. To prove that, for once, he could be one of the _cool guys_. He certainly didn't mean anything by it, certainly not to be mean. Every time he tried telling himself that it was just their light banter. Some friendly teasing. He was just doing what Douglas was doing. No harm in that, right? It didn't even seem to affect Arthur that much.

It still didn't feel right, though.

Of course, some times (well, more than _some_ times), Arthur did something really stupid, and he deserved the remarks. Didn't he? 

The man could be an absolute clot. He often forgot what he was doing in the middle of doing it. He was hopeless at taking any instructions unless you basically drew it on a piece of paper for him. 

Clot or not. Every time Martin had called Arthur stupid he ended up that night, staring at the ceiling, thinking about what he had said, and feeling really bad.


	3. No More Sad Arthurs

There was just something fundamentally wrong about seeing Arthur Shappey sad. Martin could still remember the look on the steward's face on his first Birling day. It hadn't lasted very long, and Martin had been a bit too preoccupied with Mister Birling and with finding out what Douglas was hiding from him, to know what exactly had happened, but it had been a horribly weird sight. As annoying as a cheerful Arthur could be, this was something Martin wished he would never have to see again.

It didn't happen very often, but it _did_ happen from time to time. And on those rare occasions, Martin _knew_ that someone must have screwed up pretty badly, and he immediately started wondering if it had been something he had said or done. It would take a lot to break Arthur Shappey, but it wasn't impossible, and a sad Arthur only belonged in an evil parallel universe Martin had no plans on being in.

It was therefore Martin took it as his own personal mission to cheer Arthur up whenever he saw this happening. Martin knew what it was like to feel miserable, and he did not wish that on anyone else. Especially not Arthur. 

So whenever Carolyn, or anyone else, had been particularly hard on Arthur, Martin made sure to be there with a jelly baby or a piece of Toblerone to bring Arthur's smile back. It wasn't much, but Martin hoped it helped. No matter how small the gesture might be, he hoped it was enough to show Arthur that someone cared.


	4. Little Things

"Why are you always carrying a bag of jelly babies, Skip?" Arthur asked Martin one day. "You always seem to have one, yet I almost never see you eat any."

Martin didn't want to tell him the actual reason, but simply blamed it on having to keep his blood sugar level up because of flying. This was an explanation Arthur seemed to buy, and he left with a handful of candy and a huge grin. He returned minutes later with two mugs of tea for the pilots.

While Douglas was putting his cup down, Arthur dropped Martin's favourite chocolate chip biscuit on his lap and smiled at him.

"Oh, thanks, Arthur."

"No problem, Skip. I managed to save one after the trip to Berlin because I know how much you like them."

"Anything for me, Arthur?" Douglas asked, but Arthur shook his head apologetically. 

"Sorry, I only managed to get one."

This was not the first time Arthur had saved Martin a chocolate biscuit or a left-over pudding, and it brought a smile to his face every single time.

It wasn't just food. Martin often found that Arthur did little things to make his day better. Whether it was to ask _him_ instead of Douglas for information about aeroplanes, or to still be listening to his stories long after the others had stopped caring. 

Although, since Arthur had no social antennas, it could sometimes get a bit too much with all the coffees and the "brilliants", but deep down Martin hoped Arthur would never stop doing the things he did.


	5. Empty

Everyone knew that Arthur was helpful. Sometimes a bit too much so, but truth be told they'd be lost without him. It wasn't until the two weeks Arthur was off sick with a nasty flu that the rest of the cabin crew really saw all the little things he did around the plane and airfield. It had seemed like unimportant things the pilots never thought of but just assumed happened, but there were a lot of them. Carolyn usually stayed in the cabin doing her paperwork during the flights ,trying not to let the pilots bother her and vice versa. The only time they saw her was when she grudgingly brought them their meals, because, if she didn't, one of them might faint and crash her plane. 

The three men at MJN were known for their various shenanigans, and Arthur was a vital part of them. The man had even killed a guy for them once! Well, that part might not exactly have been fun, but it showed that Arthur went out of his way to do things for them, even if that time it had ended rather badly, God rest Mister Lehman's grumpy soul.

They couldn't play passenger derby, because they lacked their master commentator. It was an incredibly boring two weeks.

As Martin was carrying the litter to the bins behind the portacabin, he started thinking about how empty the plane felt without Arthur. Arthur walking into the flight deck during flights was like a breath of fresh air, and he found he was missing the steward enormously.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: These characters belong to the brilliant and incredible John Finnemore. I'm just borrowing them for a little while to play with them.


End file.
